For many years, machines have been used to cut a layer of skin from a meat product. These machines typically have a gripper roll with a plurality of teeth positioned underneath and adjacent to an elongated sharp cutting blade which is held in place by a shoe and a clamp that binds the blade between the clamp and the shoe. As the meat is moved toward the blade, it is gripped by the teeth on the gripper roll which draws the meat product into contact with the blade whereby a layer of skin is cut from the skin and pulled between the gripper roll and the shoe while the meat moves upwardly over the blade and the clamp.
A universal problem that has plagued skinning machines forever is the difficulty of xe2x80x9cstartingxe2x80x9d a meat product into contact with the cutting blade to commence the skinning operation.
A principal object of this invention is to provide a gripper roll for a skinning machine which will greatly facilitate the starting action.
A further object of this invention is to provide a serrated blade for the skinning machine to function in conjunction with the gripper roll.
A still further object of this invention is to have a gripper roll with conventional gripping teeth wherein a plurality of secondary teeth are cut into the normal rows of teeth to again greatly facilitate the gripping action of the roll.
These and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.
A meat skinning machine has a frame with an elongated skinning blade mounted thereon. The skinning blade has an elongated cutting edge. An elongated gripper roll is rotatably mounted on the frame adjacent the blade for pulling the meat product to be skinned into operational contact with the cutting edge of the blade. A plurality of rows of teeth extend longitudinally on the outer surface of the roll with each row of teeth terminating in a cutting edge. The foregoing structure is conventional.
A plurality of secondary teeth are formed on the cutting edges of the rows of teeth to facilitate the gripping of a meat product. The secondary teeth are smaller than the teeth in the rows of teeth. The cutting edge of the blade is comprised of a plurality of serrated teeth.